Published: October 02, 2008 11:08 am            

Clark County storm cleanup winding down, but cost is going up

Charlestown Mayor Bob Hall is relieved to see his city finally getting back to normal. But the cost of recovery from the Sept. 14 wind storm is just now being calculated, and the financial burden will be felt for a long time. It could total more than $250,000.

“The good news is everybody has electric and we’ve about got the town cleaned up,” Hall said this week. “There was substantial money spent.”

Hall was very pleased, though, with the city’s response to the storm. Neighbors helped neighbors, the fire department was out delivering supplies and the street department responded quickly to fallen trees and debris.

Though some residents were frustrated, all in all everything went well during the cleanup, Hall said.

“I really felt like everybody pitched in. It was amazing how many churches, neighborhoods, the fire department pulled together.”

Hall’s sentiment has been echoed in other Clark County cities.

Like Charlestown, Jeffersonville is facing some substantial costs in getting back to normal. And, the city learned some useful ideas to implement in future disasters.

The city already has contacted a handful of retired Duke Energy Corp. employees to use in case another widespread power outage occurs. The team would go out and survey the damage, relaying to Duke the problem areas and what can be fixed quickly versus what may take more time.

Also, emergency generators need to be at all city police and fire stations, Councilman Ron Grooms said.

“We learned some things. I’d give us an eight out of 10,” he said.

Though, Grooms said, “The community should be very proud of the way people came together. There seemed to be an air of cooperation, a spirit of brotherhood.”

Grooms initially estimated the cost to clean up the city could be $250,000, and that’s likely an underestimate, he said Tuesday.

“Overtime alone just in the first five days will exceed $75,000,” he said.

However, the city issued a news release Wednesday which said costs would be about $178,000 total, at least some of which the city hopes to be reimbursed for by federal or state governments.

Sellersburg Town Board President Brian Meyer said the cleanup in the aftermath of the storm there was a success and came much cheaper.

“Proper planning was key to the success of the cleanup in Sellersburg,” Meyer said. “The town board is very pleased with the public works team. They were on it quick and it went really well.”

Meyer said the cost of cleaning up in Sellersburg, unlike Charlestown and Jeffersonville, will be minimal. Overtime and tree removal are the biggest costs to the town.

The public works department is 98 percent finished with cleaning up Sellersburg after removing 350 tons of yard waste and doing 80 miles of street sweeping in the 14 days following the storm.

The Clark County Emergency Communications Center received 300 calls an hour the day of the storm from residents with medical emergencies to people complaining their cable was cut off. All in all, though, Brad Meixell, with the center, said the dispatchers performed well.

Numbers for the cost of cleanup in the county aren’t available yet. The Federal Emergency Management Agency and Indiana Department of Homeland Security representatives toured the county with county Emergency Management Agency Director Les Kavanaugh Monday and Tuesday to calculate whether the county is able to receive federal funding to recover form the storm.

Meixell said, though numbers aren’t immediately available, “it’s not going to be cheap — there was a lot of damage.”

Commissioner Mike Moore was not pleased with the county’s response to the emergency. A more definitive and specific emergency plan needs to be instituted in the county, he said.

“A lot of people did a lot of good things, but there are things that need to be put in place before this happens again,” Moore said. “The emergency plan in place doesn’t go nearly in depth enough.”

Moore said firehouses need generators, and there needs to be a group formed of elected officials, first responders and representatives of the water company, school corporation, electric company and even Transit Authority of River City, or TARC.

“Anybody that could have a say needs to be involved,” he said. “We need many people involved, but one person to take charge and say, ‘Here’s a plan.’”

        

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